Plus, another purge at the NSC
AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov
Investors attend the OurCrowd Global Summit in Jerusalem, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018.
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at efforts by Israeli tech leaders to encourage a strategy of “economic diplomacy” in Israel’s approach to the Trump administration, and report on the memorial events for the Israeli Embassy staffers killed in Washington last week. We also cover the mass firings of officials on the National Security Council, and report on new legislation put forward by Sens. John Cornyn and Richard Blumenthal to help Jewish families recover Nazi-looted art. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog and Idan Amedi.
What We’re Watching
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is in Israel this week. More below.
- Also in Israel, but on separate visits, are Sens. David McCormick (R-PA) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), as well as Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) and Michael McCaul (R-TX).
- The Israel Democracy Institute is hosting its annual Eli Hurvitz Conference in Jerusalem today and tomorrow.
- This evening, the Foreign Ministers’ Conference on Combating Antisemitism, hosted by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, kicks off in Jerusalem. The conference will run through tomorrow evening. Earlier today, the Foreign Ministry welcomed Jewish leaders from around the world ahead of the start of the conference.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH LAHAV HARKOV
Amid persistent reports of a rift with President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been seeking to reassure Israelis that everything is fine. But behind the scenes, there are continued signs that the relationship between the two leaders isn’t as close as it was during the president’s first term.
In a press conference last week, Netanyahu said Trump recently expressed his “total commitment” not only to Israel, but to Netanyahu, and that in a recent call with Vice President JD Vance, he told the prime minister, “Don’t pay attention to all the fake news spin about a rupture between us.” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the reports “nonsense,” Netanyahu pointed out, quoting him as saying people should “listen to what the president said and not some source who’s not up to date and pretends that he knows.”
Netanyahu took such pains to say the U.S. and Israel are in constant communication and coordination — at least on Iran and humanitarian aid to Gaza — such that one may get the idea that the prime minister is overcompensating at a time when there’s one headline after another claiming there is friction between Jerusalem and Washington.
Words like “rupture” and “break” may be too strong to describe the current dynamic between Trump and Netanyahu, though there are signs of deep disagreements on some of the most important policy issues for Israel’s national security.
For example, on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News from Jerusalem on Monday that “President Trump specifically sent me here to speak with the prime minister about how negotiations are going and how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out.” That conversation, she added, was “quite candid and direct.”
The comments imply that Trump is concerned that Netanyahu is not on the same page as he is and does not plan to wait and see how nuclear talks with Iran unfold before Israel potentially launches a strike. Noem’s comments came days after a phone call between Netanyahu and Trump, which the Prime Minister’s Office readout said included discussion of Iran, and that Israel’s Channel 12 reported was heated. Trump reportedly signaled his confidence in striking what he considers a good deal, and has signaled optimism in public comments over the holiday break that he will have “good news” on the Iranian front.
Trump also publicly pushed for an end to the war in Gaza. On Sunday, the president said “Israel, we’ve been talking to them, and we want to see if we can stop that whole situation” – aka the war in Gaza – “as quickly as possible.” Trump has made clear he wants to be seen as someone who ends wars, but the fighting in Gaza is grinding on without any indication that Hamas is ready to meet Netanyahu’s conditions to end the war: freeing all the hostages, laying down its arms, exile for Hamas leaders, demilitarizing Gaza and implementing Trump’s relocation plan. Netanyahu, however, said that the war will continue and the IDF will occupy more of Gaza to try to eliminate Hamas and pressure it to free the hostages.
Israel is also in a situation where it needs assistance from the U.S. and isn’t making any overtures of its own at this time — certainly, none that can compare to a $400 million presidential plane or a pledge to invest $600 million in the United States. With a president who often views the world through a transactional lens, that can make things more challenging for Israel, as Trump administration sources have noted to Jewish Insider in recent weeks.
In addition, Trump had several close confidantes who were very focused on Israel in his first term. Steve Witkoff and Jason Greenblatt may share similar titles as Trump’s current and former envoys to the region, but Witkoff lacked Greenblatt’s familiarity with Israel and its geopolitical position from the start, and is also responsible for leading nuclear diplomacy with Iran and pursuing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Huckabee has only been in Israel for a few weeks and he doesn’t have as close of a relationship with the president as David Friedman did when he was U.S. ambassador. And Jared Kushner’s role as a close family advisor has been filled in the second term by Donald Trump, Jr.
This term, there are also the dueling foreign policy factions within the Trump administration, the so-called “restrainers” and the more traditional Republicans. The Trump administration’s moves to centralize its foreign policy decision-making — diminishing the role of Congress and the National Security Council — has created a situation in which some Israeli officials are uncertain of where to turn to make their case.
The restrainers look like they have the upper hand — with Mike Waltz out as national security advisor and Trump railing against the “so-called nation-builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits” in his recent speech in Saudi Arabia — and some of them hold positions on Israel and the Iranian threat that have raised concerns in Jerusalem.
MEETING THE MOMENT
Israel can’t compete in checkbook diplomacy. These tech leaders have other ideas
During President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East earlier this month, he shuttled between Gulf capitals to announce major economic deals. Missing from the list of deals announced on Trump’s Middle East junket was any kind of similar agreement with Israel, which Trump did not visit on his first major trip abroad since returning to office. Economic ties between the U.S. and Israel are strong. But the country lacks the liquid financial firepower that is available to the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, which risks placing Israel at a disadvantage in the eyes of an American president who sees the world as a series of business deals. Some Israeli business leaders and innovators are now urging the country to seriously consider adopting a strategy of “economic diplomacy” to place the country more firmly on Trump’s radar, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Pitching Israel: “Founders are Israel’s best ambassadors. They travel more than diplomats, pitch to the world’s biggest investors and solve real-world problems that transcend borders,” said Jon Medved, the Israel-based CEO of OurCrowd, a global venture investing platform. “Do they have a responsibility to engage in economic diplomacy? I think they already do, whether they realize it or not.”
LAID TO REST
Hundreds attend funeral outside Jerusalem for Israeli diplomat murdered in D.C.
Yaron Lischinsky was laid to rest on Sunday in Beit Zayit, a moshav outside of Jerusalem, after he was killed alongside his partner, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, by a shooter who shouted “Free Palestine” last Wednesday at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington. Hundreds attended the funeral, which was closed to the media at the family’s request, according to sources present. Among those who attended were Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel and Lischinsky’s direct superior at the embassy, Minister-Counselor for Middle East Affairs Noa Ginosar, who accompanied his body to Israel. Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog spoke at the funeral and told Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov that Lischinsky, a researcher in the embassy’s Middle East Affairs department, was someone “any ambassador would love to have serving in his embassy.”
Ambassador’s memories: “He was young, energetic and very talented,” Herzog, who finished his tenure as ambassador in January, said. “He had intellectual curiosity and a lot of knowledge. He was very devoted to his diplomatic work. He was creative and he was really a benefit to the embassy.” Lischinsky considered taking the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s cadets course, Herzog recalled, which he, along with other senior embassy staff encouraged him to do, believing he had the aptitude to be a successful diplomat. “We could rely on him, especially during the war,” the former ambassador added.
Community gathering: On Thursday night, dozens of people stopped by Lehrhaus, a Jewish tavern and house of learning near Boston, to gather with community in the aftermath of the attack. Among the guests at the popular Somerville, Mass., restaurant was Gov. Maura Healey, a first-time visitor, who went to express her “heartbreak and outrage over the murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky,” Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
SHOWING SOLIDARITY
‘We will not let hatred have the final word,’ Noem says at Jerusalem ceremony honoring slain diplomats
The murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim is a reminder “of the dreams that terrorism seeks to destroy every single day,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Monday, standing alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at a memorial event held in Jerusalem for the young Israeli Embassy staffers who were killed last week in a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, Jewish Insider’s Tamara Zieve reports.
What she said: “Today, we stand together with profound grief, and our hearts are heavy with the loss of these two radiant souls that we will no longer have with us,” Noem said. “In this moment of sorrow, we also ask that you would gather with us to honor their light and the unbreakable spirit of the Israeli and the American people,” Noem continued. Lischinsky, Noem said, “was known for his infectious smile and his unwavering commitment to peace and the vision of the Abraham Accords.” Noem said that “Friends and family shared of Sarah that she glowed with warmth and compassion, dedicating her life to fostering peace and understanding,” mentioning Milgrim’s work for the Israeli peace-building nonprofit Tech2Peace and her career in public diplomacy.
Candidate’s call: Following the murder of the two Israeli Embassy employees, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, wrote to federal leaders to call for further action to protect the Jewish community and raised concerns about growing trends of antisemitic violence across the country, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
SENIOR SHAKE-UP
Top Middle East, Israel and Iran officials pushed out of NSC
The top National Security Council officials overseeing the Middle East and Israel and Iran portfolios — seen as pro-Israel voices in the administration — were among the dozens of officials dismissed in a widespread purge at the NSC on Friday, two sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs.
Who’s out: Eric Trager, who was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa — the lead official on the Middle East — and Merav Ceren, the director for Israel and Iran, were both Trump administration political appointees but were pushed out in what one official called a purge of “the Deep State” inside the NSC. Their firings come as voices skeptical of the U.S.’ role in the Middle East increasingly establish a foothold in the administration, and as President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the acting national security advisor, seek to restructure and slim down the key foreign policy-making body.
HAMAS HANDOUT
Report: U.K. one of the top three sources of funding for Hamas
One of Hamas’ top three sources of funding is the U.K., where it is a banned terrorist organization, an investigation from Israel’s Channel 12 found. That funding includes 25% of Hamas’ donors from non-state actors, as well as tens of millions of dollars from the government of the U.K. to a UNICEF program whose beneficiaries are determined by Hamas, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Follow the money: The U.K., France and Canada threatened Israel last week with “concrete actions” if it does not lift restrictions on humanitarian aid and work with United Nations agencies to distribute it. The U.K., Canada and the European Union — of which France is a member — as well as Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Mauritius and Croatia, sponsored a project through UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Emergency Fund, for which a Hamas-run ministry provides a list of people to receive funding. The program provides cash payments of $200-$300 per month to 546,000 needy people in Gaza. UNICEF said that it works with a “beneficiary list from the MoSD,” meaning the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Social Development, to determine who receives the cash. The program uses a digital platform funded by USAID to distribute the cash. UNICEF published an update on the program as recently as November 2024. U.K. officials have denied the allegations.
SCOOP
Sens. Cornyn, Blumenthal introduce bill to help Jewish families recover Nazi-looted art
Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders to continue possessing Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Details: Introduced on Thursday, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act would expand on Cornyn’s 2016 legislation of the same name, which was passed at the time by unanimous consent, by ending the Dec. 31, 2026, sunset date on the original bill and strengthen the existing procedural protections to ensure that victims’ claims are not dismissed due to non-merit-based factors such as time constraints. “The artwork wrongfully ripped from Jewish hands during the Holocaust bears witness to a chapter in history when evil persisted and the worst of humanity was on full display,” Cornyn said in a statement.
Worthy Reads
Battering Rahm: The Free Press’ Peter Savodnik interviews former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel as the Democrat mulls a return to politics — and a 2028 presidential bid. “I asked him whether someone with his biography could win the Democratic nomination. It wasn’t just that he was part of the Democratic establishment. It was that he was a Jew with the middle name ‘Israel,’ and he was unequivocally supportive of the Jewish state’s right to exist. … He did not think of himself as enigmatic. ‘I’ve shown I’ve got the strength to say my views, and one of the key things about being a president is you got cojones, and you got strength,’ he told me. He added: ‘I’m not naive to antisemitism. I’m not naive to certain elements within the left.’ His point — about winning his House seat and being elected mayor — was that the people, the voters, mattered the most, and he believed that, in the end, they would be on his side. ‘There’s going to be people who try to bring up stereotypes or other types of things, and I’ve never hid my Judaism — not gonna — but I have confidence in the public.’” [FreePress]
The Future Sarah Saw: In The New York Times, Yasmina Asrarguis, a friend of Israeli Embassy staffer Sarah Lynn Milgrim, reflects on their friendship and the politicization of Milgrim’s death in the aftermath of the Capital Jewish Museum attack. “Sarah’s legacy must not be co-opted, not by the person who shot her, and not by those who now wish to brand her with their politics or make her a poster child for a cause. Sarah’s name should not become a pawn, nor a rallying cry, for those who seek to weaponize her death for political gain on either side of this conflict. … In his bullets, the killer could not have seen all that Sarah was, all that she believed in. Her Jewish identity was flattened into a target. In her murder he picked exactly the sort of person who might have altered the future. But just as the extremist misunderstood Sarah, so too do many of those who profess to weep for her loss. Those who mourn Sarah should reflect on her ideals, learn from her life’s work and aim as she did on creating the fragile groundwork for Middle East peace. It was a future she helped prepare for, one conversation, one relationship at a time.” [NYTimes]
When Violence Is Rationalized: In The Atlantic, the Manhattan Institute’s Reihan Salam and Jesse Arm consider the underlying root of American political violence following the Capital Jewish Museum attack. “What we’re witnessing is an issue not with Israel, but with America. When violence aimed at Jews — or those seen as aligned with them — is dismissed, excused, or rationalized, it undermines the civic norms that hold our society together. Elite institutions that once upheld liberal pluralism now indulge a form of identity politics that prizes grievance over justice. Some of the ugliest reactions to the D.C. shooting treated the murders as incidental — or even deserved. That’s not just moral failure. It represents a worldview that treats violence as politics by other means. Such rationalizations have been used to justify the ideological murder of a health-care executive, coordinated arson attacks on Tesla dealerships by anti-capitalist extremists, and, now, executions outside a Jewish museum in the nation’s capital.” [TheAtlantic]
Word on the Street
Kingsley Wilson, a deputy press secretary at the Department of Defense who has come under fire from Democratic and Republican lawmakers and Jewish communal organizations for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, has been promoted to serve as the department’s press secretary, the Pentagon announced on Friday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
President Donald Trump said he was “considering” taking $3 billion in grant funding to Harvard and redistributing the funds to trade schools across the country…
Trump also said on Sunday that he expected to have “good news” on the ongoing Iran nuclear talks later this week, ahead of a fifth round of talks slated for Friday in Rome…
Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC), Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and three bipartisan co-sponsors reintroduced legislation to repeal the sunset on energy sanctions on Iran first passed in 1996…
Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and David McCormick (R-PA) introduced legislation requiring a whole-of-government strategy to counter cooperation between Iran, Russia, China and North Korea…
A group of more than 50 House Republicans led by Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) introduced a resolution commemorating Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were killed in an attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum last week…
The Washington Post’s Mark Lasswell reflects on “an extreme week in antisemitism,” including the murders of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, the resignation of the BBC’s Gary Lineker following his posting of an antisemitic social media image and a widely reported but false statement by a U.N. official regarding infant deaths in Gaza…
Moldova extradited to the U.S. a Georgian national and Eastern European neo-Nazi group leader who had instructed an undercover federal agent to dress as Santa Claus and distribute poison-laced candy to Jewish children…
The New York Times reports on an extensive Russian spy operation with roots in Brazil; the spies were identified and in some cases apprehended using intelligence gathered from, among other countries, the U.S. and Israel…
Dozens of prominent Jewish philanthropists from the United States, U.K., Australia and Israel sent a letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar decrying a proposed bill that would impose an 80% tax on foreign governments’ donations to Israeli nonprofits, ahead of a Knesset committee hearing on the legislation later this week, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
The Washington Post looks at the efforts by the mother of a U.S. Army soldier who was injured last year while working on the U.S.’ ill-fated humanitarian pier in Gaza and later died from his injuries to find answers to questions surrounding his death…
Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused the Israeli government of setting up two shell companies, backed by taxpayer money, to fund the humanitarian aid effort in Gaza; the Prime Minister’s Office denied the claim…
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations on Monday, a day after its CEO, Jake Wood, resigned due to what he said was an inability to operate according to the “humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”; the foundation’s chief operation officer also resigned…
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff slammed Hamas’ “disappointing and completely unacceptable” response to a U.S.-proposed ceasefire and hostage-release agreement that would secure the release of 10 of the remaining 21 hostages believed to be alive…
Former Israeli hostage Liri Albag was briefly detained at New York’s JFK International Airport over an outdated system note that still listed Albag as still being in captivity in Gaza…
Far-right Israelis chanted anti-Arab slurs as tens of thousands marched through the Old City of Jerusalem to celebrate Jerusalem Day…
U.K. authorities said that an incident in which dozens of people in Liverpool were injured after a driver ploughed through a crowd of Liverpool FC supporters was not tied to terrorism…
The Financial Times reviews Uwe Wittstock’s Marseille 1940: The Flight of Literature, about the Emergency Rescue Committee’s formation and efforts to save German Jews, many of whom were writers and intellectuals, at the start of WWII…
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s “Un Simple Accident” won the Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival; the film was shot clandestinely inside Iran by Panahi, who was until recently barred from leaving the country…
Filmmaker Michael Roemer, who with his sister was rescued by the Kindertransport during WWII and whose work included “Nothing But a Man” and “The Plot Against Harry,” died at 97…
German-born documentarian Marcel Ophuls, whose film “The Sorrow and the Pity” debunked the myth of a widespread French resistance to the Nazis during WWII, died at 97…
Artist and children’s book author Judith Hope Blau, who made jewelry and other works out of bagels, died at 87…
Writer Leslie Epstein, whose “King of the Jews” received widespread acclaim, died at 87…
Pic of the Day
“Fauda” actor Idan Amedi, who was seriously injured during reserve duty in Gaza last year, spoke on Saturday evening in conversation with Rabbi Marc Schneier at the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, N.Y.
Birthdays
Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and director, Richard Schiff turns 70…
MONDAY: Public speaker, teacher and author, Richard Lederer turns 87… Journalist and educator, the mother of the late Susan (former CEO of YouTube), Janet (anthropologist and UCSF professor) and Anne (co-founder of 23andMe), Esther Hochman Wojcicki turns 84… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-IL) since 1999, Janice Danoff “Jan” Schakowsky turns 81… Former SVP of News at NPR, after a lengthy career at the New York Daily News, The New York Times and the Associated Press, Michael Oreskes turns 71… Co-founder and CEO of Mobileye which he sold to Intel in 2017, he is also a professor at Hebrew University, Amnon Shashua turns 65… NYC real estate developer, board member of The Charles H. Revson Foundation and a former commissioner on the NYC Planning Commission, Cheryl Cohen Effron… Former brigadier general in the IDF, she has been a member of the Knesset for the Likud since 2009, currently serving as minister of transportation, Miriam “Miri” Regev turns 60… Counsel in the government affairs practice of Paul Hastings, Dina Ellis Rochkind… Photographer, her work has appeared in galleries and been published in books, Naomi Harris turns 52… South Florida entrepreneur, Sholom Zeines… Program officer for media and communications at Maimonides Fund, Rebecca Friedman… Former minor league baseball player, he has become one of the leading agents for NBA players, with five contracts of over $100 million each, Jason Glushon turns 40… Executive editor of Ark Media, she is the author of a book last year on the 1929 origins of the current Israeli-Arab conflict, Yardena Schwartz… CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Mark Goldfeder… Co-founder of Stories Abroad Tours, Arielle Gingold… Assistant professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, Benjamin L. Cavataro… Toronto-born Israeli actress and singer, best known as the protagonist of the Israeli television series “Split,” Melissa Amit Farkash turns 36… Strategic partnerships and engagement manager at U.S. Pharmacopeia, Morgan A. Jacobs… Catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Garrett Patrick Stubbs turns 32… Eytan Merkin…
TUESDAY: Retired professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, he is the author of 80 books, Philip Kotler turns 94… Founder of Val d’Or Apparel and Cannon County Knitting Mills, Martin “Marty” Granoff turns 89… CEO of British real estate firm Heron International, he was knighted in 2024, Sir Gerald Ronson turns 86… Senior U.S. district judge for the Central District of California, Christina A. Snyder turns 78… Retired in 2014 as school rabbi and director of Jewish studies at The Rashi School, a K-8 Reform Jewish school in Dedham, Mass., Ellen Weinstein Pildis… Partner in the D.C. office of ArentFox Schiff, he wrote a book about the struggle for Jewish civil rights during the French Revolution, Gerard Leval turns 75… Analytical psychotherapist, author, and Jewish Renewal rabbi, Tirzah Firestone turns 71… Former MLB pitcher (1978-1982) who played for the White Sox and Pirates, he is now a financial advisor at RBC Wealth Management, Ross Baumgarten turns 70… Owner of a 900-acre plant nursery in Kansas, he is a former MLB pitcher (1979-1990) and was an MLB All Star in 1979 and 1982, Mark Clear turns 69… Marriage counselor, therapist and author, Sherry Amatenstein… U.S. ambassador to Argentina during the Biden administration, he served for six years as chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Marc R. Stanley turns 68… Beverly Hills-based immigration attorney, founder and chairman of the Los Angeles Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, Neil J. Sheff… General manager of Phibro Israel and co-founder of LaKita, a non-profit crowd-funding platform for Israeli public schools, Jonathan Bendheim… Workplace and labor reporter at The New York Times, Noam Scheiber… Stage, film and television actor and producer, Ben Feldman turns 45… Director of development at the Livingston, N.J.-based Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Grant Silverstein… “Science of Success” columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Benjamin Zachary Cohen… Director of legislative affairs and policy at General Atomics, Katherina (Katya) Dimenstein… Assistant district attorney for Bronx County, Joshua A. Fitterman… Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 2012, Andrew Seidman… Emily Cohen…
The firings come as President Trump is looking to centralize foreign policy decision making
J. David Ake/Getty Images
The North Portico of The White House is seen at dusk on April 24, 2025, in Washington, DC.
The top National Security Council officials overseeing the Middle East and Israel and Iran portfolios — seen as pro-Israel voices in the administration — were among the dozens of officials dismissed in a widespread purge of the NSC on Friday, two sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.
Eric Trager, who was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa — the lead official on the Middle East — and Merav Ceren, the director for Israel and Iran, were both Trump administration political appointees but were pushed out in what one official called a purge of “the Deep State” inside the NSC.
Their firings come as voices skeptical of the U.S.’ role in the Middle East increasingly establish a foothold in the administration, and as President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the acting national security advisor, seek to restructure and slim down the key foreign policy-making body.
According to Axios, officials cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in the government. Ceren previously came under fire from the far left and far right after false claims that she had previously worked as an Israeli Ministry of Defense official generated accusations of dual loyalty.
NSC spokesman Brian Hughes defended Ceren at the time and denied the accusations, describing her as “a patriotic American who has served in the United States government for years, including for President Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Congressman James Comer. We are thrilled to have her expertise in the NSC, where she carries out the President’s agenda on a range of Middle East issues.” He said she “was never employed by the Israeli Defense Ministry, let alone was she an Israeli official.”
Trager and Ceren were hired under former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who was pushed aside after he added a journalist to an administration group chat about U.S. strikes on the Houthis, and after right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer accused him of staffing the NSC with a host of neoconservatives out of step with Trump.
Trager and Ceren had maintained their positions at the time, even as several of Waltz’s top hires were dismissed.